The year in music

2007 can't officially start unless I compile a top-ten list of my favorite albums of 2006. Here we go, Letterman style.

10. Muse - Black Holes and Revelations

This somewhat lukewarm album suddenly delighted me after seeing Muse perform live at the Download Festival. Muse isn't well-respected among critics, because it's widely regarded as pretentious piano-rock for emo teenagers who haven't yet discovered Radiohead. It's also true that their wild musical theatrics and over-the-top melodrama distract from the superb musicianship of the group. But they put on a great live show, and there are some real standout tracks on this album. ("Supermassive Black Hole" and "Knights of Cydonia" are my favorites, although the closet Coldplay fan in me can't help but clap along with "Starlight.")

9. I'm Not A Gun - We Think As Instruments

I don't recall exactly where I discovered this group, but apparently they're about as obscure as you can get. They don't have a band website, their biography is missing from the All Music Guide, and even their Wikipedia article is blank. (OK, I suppose the fact that they have a Wikipedia article at all disqualifies me from calling them obscure.)

Nevertheless, this album has been a staple for clean, non-distracting "getting things done" music for me. When I want to write letters, clean the apartment, or just sit and read a magazine, this is the album playing when I do it.

That's not to say the album should be pigeonholed into the background music category by any means. It has great musical merit; I'm partial to the fat downtempo drum beats (in "Blue Garden" for example). I imagine that this is the kind of music I'd make if I made electronic music.

8. Califone - Roots and Crowns

File this group under "artists I've never heard of" until just recently, when Pandora introduced me to them on a Calexico-themed station. They're from a similar vein — dusty southwestern acoustic rock with a heavy atmosphere and understated vocals. "Pink and Sour" was the track that addicted me to the album, with its driving percussion. Other songs of note include the pleasant and sedate "The Orchids" and multi-stage "Black Metal Valentine," which starts out as a trippy march filled with echoes and background effects, and ends as a heartfelt guitar serenade.

7. Thom Yorke - The Eraser

You have to take what I say about Thom Yorke with a grain of salt, since I'm one of those über Radiohead fans that thinks everything he touches turns to gold. But I do think this was a very solid solo album. I give it 4 out of 5 crying robots.

6. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

Many people had told me about Belle and Sebastian before this year, and to be honest I was never much of a fan. I can't put my finger on why not exactly — perhaps, like Neutral Milk Hotel, they were just too raw for me at first listen. But whatever it was, they completely caught me off guard with The Life Pursuit. Perhaps they've become more poppy in recent years, but it was just what I needed to start loving the twee septet.

My favorite tracks are "Another Sunny Day," "White Collar Boy," and "For The Price of a Cup of Tea."

5. The Whitest Boy Alive - Dreams

Back in the 90s I was fascinated by Semisonic. Lead singer and songwriter Dan Wilson crafted great lyrics and catchy melodies, and the group performed them in a way that wasn't too much or too little but just right. Their songs were the kind that you could learn to play yourself with relative ease by spending 15 minutes in front of a piano or guitar.

Now the voice behind Kings of Convenience brings us his side project, The Whitest Boy Alive, and they follow the same philosophy. The songs aren't complex or intricate. Heck, I could play most of them myself given about a day of studio time. But it's the simplicity of the songs that contains their appeal.

I especially recommend "Golden Cage," "Don't Give Up," and "Figures."

4. Kinky - Reina

After the rowdy spectacle they put on at the Download Festival, I couldn't get enough of my new favorite Mexican dance rock quintet. Turns out their newest album is just as catchy and toe-tapping as I expected.
It starts off on the right foot with some nonsensical accordion techno in the form of "Sister Twisted," (see the tremendously entertaining music video) and the 80s pop throwback "I Say Hey." The band has a penchant for coming up with simple but catchy riffs and then drilling them into your brain excessively — a method demonstrated clearly by the bass player on "Una Linea de Luz." There's an undeniable current of cool running below the surface of all their songs; it's the kind of thing that makes you want to drove slowly, roll down the windows, and crank up "Lay Back." Yeah bitches.

3. Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds

Hasn't enough been written about this guy lately? Apparently not, because I'm writing more. I'm not ashamed to admit that I love this album, despite the fact that it reminds me of a tragically awkward road trip. From the very first few notes, you can't deny he did, in fact, bring sexy back.

What's really remarkable about this album to me is the clear focus on production value and a nice glossy finish on all the songs. This isn't surprising considering the star power (it's got more pop, rap, and R&B guest stars than a Scientology convention), but what is surprising is how well the songs blend together. Many of them have such clean transitions that you could miss them if you don't pay attention. It's definitely an album best listened to from beginning to end. Consider it the Dark Side of the Moon of modern pop. Anybody got a copy of the Wizard of Oz?

2. The Blow - Paper Television

This album became a fast favorite of mine in early December. Here's what I wrote about it back then:

Paper Television by the Blow has become my new favorite. I first heard the Blow while I was listening to a Pandora station based on The Knife. I liked it so much that I bought the album from iTunes almost immediately.

The Blow is a two-woman group that produces the same sort of glitch-pop that The Postal Service popularized a few years ago, but without all the sugary Gibbardesque lyrics. The album contains varying degrees of lovesick-slash-hopeful tunes, and plenty of supply and demand metaphors. It's like electronica for single economists. My favorite songs on the album are Pile of Gold, Pardon Me, and Parentheses, but Long List of Girls gets an honorable mention for incorporating a drumline into its beat.

1. The Knife - Silent Shout

Anyone who's been paying attention to my posts in the last year should be completely unsurprised that I've designated this album as my favorite of the year.

I learned about the Knife late in 2005, and their album Deep Cuts became a regular in my rotation. But it wasn't until Silent Shout was released that I discovered the meaning of the word addiction. Every song on this album is a work of art, from the fluttering synthesizers on the title track to the layers of schizophrenic beats and rhythms on "We Share Our Mother's Health," my personal favorite. The Knife's previous albums were delightfully different, but this one is where they found their much darker niche.

The event that added fuel to the Knife explosion was my fortunate attendance of their live show in November, one of only a few in the States. Seeing them in person, while not a triumph of musicianship, revealed a feast for the eyes and ears. They thrive on the quirky and strange, and their stage show reflects this intensely.

I'm currently working on scoring a copy of their recently released DVD, Silent Shout: An Audio Visual Experiment. One customer review states:

Just bought this from a Swedish website and am loving every minute of it. I suggest watching this with your closest relative, nude as hell. I cannot stress the word nude enough. A must view.

Sounds par for the course for The Knife. I can't wait!